Family pleads for public's help in finding teen's killer

Simone Sebastian, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, February 15, 2006

(02-15) 17:55 PST EL CERRITO -- Relatives of a teenager fatally stabbed at a weekend party in Berkeley pleaded at a memorial today for witnesses to come forward, but police said they still do not have a description of the killer.

Investigators have questioned dozens of teens who attended the unchaperoned party Friday night but are frustrated because no one has provided a name or complete description of the person who killed 18-year-old Juan Carlos Ramos and injured three other boys.

"Normally, this would be very straightforward," said Berkeley officer Ed Galvan. "It is very discouraging for us, but nobody is coming forward and giving us the information that we need."

Ramos' relatives and friends joined scores of pupils from Albany and El Cerrito High Schools this afternoon in the grassy median of Key Route Boulevard midway between the two schools for an informal memorial. Ramos graduated from El Cerrito High School last month and had attended Albany schools.

Friends remembered Ramos, a student at Contra Costa College in San Pablo studying to become an electrician, as a loyal and outgoing young man who frequently toted friends around in his red Chevrolet Camaro. The car is parked outside his parents' El Cerrito home, decorated with flowers left by mourners.

Ramos was the youngest of five siblings. Several cousins and other relatives attended the memorial.

Ramos's sister-in-law Linda Montecino, tears falling from behind her dark sunglasses, pleaded with students to help identify the suspect.

"If anybody knows anything, please tell so someone else's family doesn't hurt like we do," she said. "He was so young, it should have never happened to him."

As many as 100 teenagers attended the party at a large home of an Albany High School student on the 700 block of Contra Costa Avenue. Friends who were with Ramos said that they arrived at about 10 p.m. A fight broke out about 90 minutes later that led to the stabbing of Ramos and three other boys.

Police are not certain of what caused the fight, though at least two teens who were at the party have said that the dispute was over a skateboard.

"I wish I could go back in time ad say, 'No you guys, ou are not going to that party,' " said Veronica Castillo, 17, who arrived at the party with Ramos. "It just breaks my heart. He was the sweetest guy ever. He was going to do something with his life."